Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill(Bycanistes subcylindricus)
It is a moderately large bird of 60-70 cm with a wingspan of 28-38 cm. It is recognizable by its black plummage for the higher body and wings alongside and white plummage on the lower body and wings with black feathers amongst the white feathers of the tail, particularly the top tail feathers and the base of the tail feathers. It has a yellow-brownish bill and flattened casque, which are enlarged in males. Females have a smaller casque and a black bill. The purpose of the casque is unknown for males, although suggested to be for sexual characterisation They have very mobile eyes which is not a common trait in birds. This means that its eyes themselves can move in their socket, while other birds tend to have to move their heads to see.
It is capable of displaying emotions through the feathers at the top of the head, which allows it to communicate its emotional state. While males weight between 1 kg-1.5 kg, the females weight between 1 kg-1.25 kg. It is also known as the grey-cheeked hornbill.
Habitat
The black-and-white-casqued hornbill is found mostly in Ivory-Coast, with smaller populations in its surrounding countries for West-African populations. The Central-African populations are mostly in Uganda and Kenya as well as Cameroon with smaller populations in Gabon, Tanzania and Central Africa. They are tropical birds that live in regions with high amounts of forests and is rarely seen in on flat lands, especially due to its arboreal nature.
Diet
The diet of the black-and-white-casqued hornbill consist mostly of fruits, which includes relatively small fruits or pieces of larger fruits. While some may consider this bird, like many other hornbils, to be limited to such food, it has been noted that they are very much capable of hunting small animals, including lizards and the eggs of other birds. Most of the frugal diet of the black-and-white-casqued hornbill comes from figs. The black-and-white-casqued hornbill does not consume water directly and seems to instead hydrate itself from the water contained in the fruits that represent most of its diet. It is capable of precise and delicate handling of edibles by using its beak skillfully in conjunction with its esophagus.
Population
According to the IUCN Red List, they are classed as Least Concern(LC). Their population trend is unknown. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be locally uncommon to common.
Threats
There are currently no threats to this species as it is so widespread.
Conservation
There are currently no conservation actions for this species.